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Murray The Ground Hog

On the west bank of the Newark City Subway tracks near Davenport Avenue and the abandoned Heller Parkway stop, near the senior citizen warehouse and opposite the pathetic junkyard that passes for the Branch Brook Park maintenance yard, there, sometimes, on a sunny day, often in the evening on the ride home, when the lightrail in which you are traveling might be stopped for traffic ahead, you might look out your window towards the setting sun and down below, above the tufts of grass you might spot Murray the ground hog looking back at you.

Murray the groundhog rises to see us go by, sometimes.

If you blink, you’ll miss him. Oh, sometimes he’ll be in his burrow – blogging or surfing the net for gophers and prairie dogs looking for a good time.

You see Murray the ground hog lives in a fairly safe world.

He doesn’t get screened by big machines set up by Homeland Security.

The nearby fences are topped by barbed wire.

The singing over head wires warn away predators – hawks and such - from the sky, and serve as his nearly-invisible fence.

There are not as many (four-legged) foxes seen in town lately.

An occasional bear … but they rarely get to this side of the park.

The biggest challenge to Murray the ground hog’s very existence are maintenance workers from NJ Transit.

You see, while Murray the ground hog’s burrow entrance is off the beaten path and tucked into a berm, mostly covered with weeds and such, his very presence along side man’s Iron Horse is a threat to modern locomotion.

You can be sure that the suits in NJT’s penthouse are concerned that should Murray the ground hog dig the wrong way, well, ZAP! not only to Murray, but he could short circuit the city subway and the new loop to Broad Street. It could happen.

I’m loathe to reveal Murray the ground hog’s exact location – or even his real name and sex – as he might be deemed a threat to Homeland Security and before you know it crews with rakes and hoes set upon the ancillary brush to lure and remove the cute critter from his underground shelter. (If you see a cement mixer along the fence, you can bet he’s not getting a new foundation!)

In short, Murray the ground hog might get snuffed out. I’d like to think that Murray the ground hog is safe in his underground chambers and tunnels. Maybe sitting in the air conditioning reading the Transit blogs?

Although, truth be told, I haven’t seen the little guy in a while.

Maybe it’s been too hot for him. Maybe I forgot to look out?

Maybe he’s got a girlfriend in Branch Brook Park and they are looking to settle down and raise a ground hog family. Or maybe he has changed his train-spotting hours.

Or maybe it has something to do with the large rocks and sticks that seem to be cast about his entry point. He’d surely be a loser when set upon by street-wise boys with implements of destruction.

Or maybe Murray the ground hog has moved on because of the defoliant used alongside the tracks to keep them clear of undergrowth – some modern day version of Newark-made Agent Orange – that turned the vegetation brown and allows the run off storm water to run off somewhere else.

If you see him, say hello. Give him my regards.

--Happy Trails,

---- Anthony

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